402 Events on
the continent force Stilicho to recall one of the two
British legions to assist with the defense of Italy against Alaric and the Visigoths. The recalled legion,
known as the Sixth Victrix, was said by Claudian (in "De BelloGallico," 416) to be "that legion which is
stretched before the remoter Britons, which curbs the Scot, and gazes on the
tattoo-marks on the pale face of the dying Pict."
The barbarians were defeated, this time, at battle of Pollentia

403 Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, visits Britain for the purpose of bringing peace to the island's
clergy, who were in the midst of a dispute, possibly

over the
Pelagian heresy.

405 The
British troops, which had been recalled to assist Stilicho,
do not return to Britain as they have to stay in Italy to fight off another,
deeper penetration by the barbarian chieftain,Radagaisus.

Rome and Britain. In autumn 406, the remaining Roman army in Britain decides to mutiny. One Marcus is proclaimed
emperor in Britain, but is

immediately assassinated.

407 In place
of the assassinated Marcus, Gratian is elevated
"to the purple," but lasts only four months. Constantine III is
hailed as the new

emperor by Roman garrison in Britian.
He proceeds to follow the example of Magnus Maximus
by withdrawing the remaining Roman legion, the Second Augusta, and crossing over into Gaul
to rally support for his cause.

Constantine's departure could be what Nennius
called "the end of the Roman Empire
in Britain. . ."

408 With both Roman legions withdrawn, Britain endures
devastating attacks by the Picts, Scots and Saxons.

409 Prosper,
in his chronicle, says, "in the fifteenth year of
Honorius and Arcadius
(409), on account of the languishing state of the Romans, the strength of the
Britons was brought to a desperate pass."

Under enormous
pressure, Britons take matters into their own hands, expelling weak Roman

413 Pelagian heresy said to have begun, by Prosper (Tiro) of Aquitaine in his "Chronicle."

420 – 30 Pelagian heresy is outlawed in Rome (418), but in Britain, enjoys much support from "pro-Celtic"
faction. Traditionalists (pro-Romans)

support Roman church. During this time, according to Prosper, Britain is ruled by petty "tyrants."

421 Honorius issues a decree forbidding any Pelagians
to come nearer to Rome
than the one-hundredth mile marker.

429 At the request of Palladius, a
British deacon, Pope Celestine I dispatches bishops Germanus
of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britain to combat Pelagian
heresy. While in Britain, Germanus, a former
military man, leads Britons to "Hallelujah" victory in Wales.

c. 432
Traditional dating for the beginning of St. Patrick's mission to Ireland

c. 438 Birth
of AmbrosiusAurelianus,
scion of the leading Romano-British family on the island.

c. 440 – 50
Period of civil war and famine in Britain, caused by ruling council's weakness
and inability to deal with Pictish invasions;
situation

aggravated by tensions between Pelagian/Roman
factions. Vacated towns and cities in ruin. Migration
of pro-Roman citizens toward west. Country beginning to be
divided, geographically, along factional lines.

c. 441 Gallic
Chronicle records, prematurely, that "Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power
of the Saxons."

c. 445 Vortigern comes to power in Britain.

446 Britons
(probably the pro-Roman party) appeal to Aetius, Roman
governor of Gaul, for military assistance in their struggle
against the Picts and the Irish (Scots). No help
could be sent, at this time, as Aetius had his hands
full with Attila the Hun.

c. 446 Vortigern authorizes the use of Saxon mercenaries, known as
foederati, for the defense of the northern parts
against barbarian attack.

To guard
against further Irish incursions, Cunedda and his
sons are moved from ManauGododdin
in northern Britain to northwest Wales.

447 Second
visit of St. Germanus (this time accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Trier) to Britain. Was this visit spiritually motivated, to combat
a revived Pelagian threat, or was Germanus
sent in Aetius' stead, to do whatever he could to
help the desperate Britons?

c. 447 Britons,
aroused to heroic effort, "inflicted a massacre" on their enemies,
the Picts and Irish, and are left in peace, for a
brief time. Could this heroic effort have been led, again, by St. Germanus?

c. 448 Death of St. Germanus in Ravenna. Civil war and plague ravage Britain.

c. 450 In the first year of Marcian and Valentinian, Hengest arrives on
shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors, and are
welcomed by Vortigern. This event is known in Latin
as the "adventusSaxonum,"
the coming of the Saxons.

c. 452
Increasing Saxon settlement
in Britain. Hengest invites his
son, Octha, from Germany with "16 keels" of warriors, who occupy
the northern

c. 458 – 60
Full-scale migration of British aristocrats and
city-dwellers across the English Channel
to Brittany, in North Western Gaul (the "second migration"). British
contingent led by Riothamus (perhaps a title, not a
name), thought by some to be the original figure behind the legends of Arthur.

c. 460 – 70 AmbrosiusAurelianus takes full
control of the pro-Roman faction and British resistance effort; leads Britons
in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxons. British strategy seems to have
been to allow Saxon landings and to then contain them, there.

c. 465 Arthur
probably born around this time.

c. 466 Battle
of Wippedesfleot, in which Saxons defeat Britons, but
with great slaughter on both sides. Mutual "disgust and sorrow"
results in a

respite from fighting "for a long time."

c. 466 – 73
Period of minimal Saxon activity. Refortification of ancient hillforts and construction of the Wansdyke
probably takes place during

this time.

c. 469 Roman
emperor, Anthemius, appeals to Britons for military help against
Visigoths.

c. 470 Battle
of Wallop (Hampshire) where Ambrosius defeats Vitalinus, head of the opposing faction. Ambrosius assumes High-kingship of Britain.

473 Men of Kent, under Hengest, move
westward, driving Britons back before them "as one flees fire."

477 Saxon chieftain, Aelle, lands on Sussex coast with his sons. Britons engage him upon
landing but his superior force drives them into the forest

(Weald). Over next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings are
gradually expanded in Sussex.

c. 480 Vita Germani, the Life of St. Germanus,
is written by a continental biographer, Constantius.

c. 485 – 96
Period of Arthur's "twelve battles" during which he gains reputation
for invincibility.

486 Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory and are
engaged by Britons at battle of Mercredesburne. Battle is bloody, but indecisive, and ends with both
sides pledging friendship.

c. 490 Hengest dies. His son, Aesc,
takes over and rules for 34 years.

c. 495 Cerdic and Cynric, his son, land
somewhere on the south coast, probably near the Hampshire-Dorset border.

c. 496
Britons, under overall command of Ambrosius and
battlefield command of the "war leader" Arthur, defeat Saxons at the
Siege of MountBadon.

c. 496 – 550 Following the victory at Mt.Badon, the Saxon advance is halted with the invaders
returning to their own enclaves. A generation of

peace ensues. Corrupt leadership, more civil turmoil,
public forgetfulness and individual apathy further erode Romano-British culture
over next fifty years, making Britain ripe for final Saxon "picking."